Reflections
by cockycute
Summary: For Regina's final lesson, Rumplestiltskin asks her to kiss him to see if she can separate herself from her feelings, only for Rumplestiltskin to find out that Regina's not the only one who felt something during their kiss.


Rumplestiltskin looked over at his beautiful, wicked Regina. He watched the way that her hair fell across her face, for just a second, before she pushed it back. He loved the way that she would let her guard down when she thought that no one was looking, and he would get a glimpse of the true Regina, the one whose heart was so tender that she had to keep it locked up to protect herself. He loved the glimpses of Regina that he saw when she thought that no one was looking, seeing her the way she had been gave him hope, but it also made him indescribably sad. It reminded him of who she could have been, before he had corrupted her, before he had taken that light inside of her and extinguished it forever, leaving only darkness. But he couldn't think about that, he couldn't think of what could have been. He could only look to the future. Besides, he had done Regina a favor. He had shown her how the world really worked. He'd helped her become powerful, he had helped her reach her true potential, he'd molded her into becoming who she was truly meant to be. Rumplestiltskin knew all this, but somehow when he thought about how he had been responsible for the loss of Regina's innocence and the corruption and blackening of her heart that he and his magic had been responsible for reminded him of the losses that he had suffered in the pursuit of magic and power, the loss of his son and the women he loved, but most of all, it reminded him of the loss of his humanity, and how he couldn't even look himself of the mirror anymore because every time he did, the sight of his scaly flesh reminded him of all of the harm that he had caused, all of the lives that were now destroyed because of him and how he now had to cling to his magic and power, because even if he stopped being the Dark One and the physical reminder of his decaying soul went away, he could never escape what he had done, what he had lost. It was ironic that he had sacrificed everything of value in his life in the pursuit of something that was worthless once you actually had it. But he could never go back, because all he had and all he ever would have, was magic and he had to cling to that, because without magic, he had nothing.

Regina contemplated the darkness that had been growing within her. At first she had hated it, she had rebelled against her darkness with every ounce of her being, but then she reached this threshold, and she realized that she didn't care anymore. The darkness had freed her. Her simple wickedness gave her more power than her father's meaningless title ever had. And now she would be queen. She would be the most powerful woman in the entire enchanted forest and she had to admit that the thought of all that power made her a bit giddy. She would be powerful, and she would be free, free from her mother's constant manipulation, free from the prison that her kind and moral nature had put her in. She would finally be able to put her priorities in order and make sure that nothing would cloud her judgement. Not worry for other people, not the cowardice that masqueraded as morality, and, now that Daniel was dead, not even love. The only thing that still might get in the way of her power would be the feelings for Rumpelstiltskin, they weren't love exactly, but Regina knew that if he asked her for a favor, she would probably do it even if it wasn't in her best interests. He was her one and only weakness which was ironic, because he was the one who had given her strength in the first place.

"Are you ready for your final lesson?" He asked her.

"Yes."

Kiss me."

"What?!" Regina couldn't imagine what he could possibly be trying to teach her with this lesson.

"You need to learn to separate the physical from the emotional. Until you learn that, you'll never be fully successful as queen."

"Shouldn't we pick someone a bit more... attractive?"

"You offend me dearie." Rumplestiltskin sounded amused. "Physical attraction has nothing to do with what you feel for a person. You've spent the most time with me lately, so out of all of the men in your life, you'll be closest to me."

"Whatever you say, Master." Regina smirked, walked up to Rumplestiltskin, cupped his head in her hands, and kissed him. It was a long, slow kiss, accompanied by all of the feelings that Rumplestiltskin had cautioned her against. It was then that she had her revelation. She loved Rumplestiltskin. She could barely admit it to herself, but she loved him. She loved that sick, twisted little imp of a man. She loved him more than she had ever loved Daniel, she knew that now. But the question was, what did she love more, Rumplestiltskin, or her power. She knew that she had to make a decisions soon because she knew in her heart of hearts that once she chose one, she could never have the other.

Regina pulled away. "Is that it?" Regina cloaked her voice in the imperiousness that had become her default when trying to mask her true emotions.

"What was it that you were expecting dearie?"

"A bit more of a challenge, I guess."

Rumplestiltskin was slightly hurt by this, although he had no idea why. "Well, congratulations. I've taught you all that I could. The book should do the rest." She took her mother's book of spells from his hands.

"Thank you." She could barely manage to choke out those two little words, knowing that she would much rather be telling him a different set of three. Now that he was done teaching her magic, there would be no reason to visit him anymore unless their dynamic changed somehow.

"You know that you just created your greatest rival." Regina smirked.

"I have no doubt about that, dearie, but I guess we'll just have to cross that bridge when we come to it."

"It'll be a lot more exciting for you, to finally have some competition again after my mother decided she'd rather use her magic to imprison me than to compete with you."

"It should make things a lot more exciting for you."

"Yes, it definitely will, dearie." As Regina walked off, Rumpelstiltskin smiled, feeling almost content, after all, it was the closest that either one of them could come to having both their power and each other and everyone knows that hatred is just the dark reflection of love.


End file.
